The Speed Of Dark
by Newyorkstylebagels
Summary: Enter Emily: a short, intelligent, little kid, who just happens to have amnesia. After her family's murder, she is sent to live at Wammy's. Death note through a child at Wammy's point of view. No parings.
1. Chapter 1

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Lol. First death note story ever.

**_Emily is not a mary sue to be falling in love with anyone. I am seriously just experimenting right now._**

Disclaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimemmmerrrrr: Unfortunatly, I do not own death note. BUT I WISH I DID. I would make a sequel, called life note, if it was me. :D

reincarnates L

AGH. This story sounded _so much_ better in my head.

I love the title, anyway. I am so creative, I suprise even myself sometimes. EGO EGO EGO EGO EGO

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The Speed of Dark

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Chapter 1

_Snow was falling. The girl knew this. She limped, running, or trying to anyway. Running from the man that had hurt her, who had tried to kill her. The man who had kill each person she knew slowly and painfully. One by one, they had fallen. So the girl had just ran. She would not end up like the rest. She refused._

_Voices, bright lights, gunshots, people yelled and screamed. She could hear sirens, pounding her ears. If she listened quietly enough, she could hear the sound of snow hitting the ground. She could not stop and strain her ears now, listening intently to the people. She dared not even a glance over her shoulder. The man was after her, she knew._

_Her legs folded from beneath her, Failing her mind, body, and spirit. Slowly, she fell from a squat, balancing on her toes, towards the ground. She fell hitting her head, her eyes half lidded. It was so very cold, the cold was burning her skin…_

_I know the color of snow is white._

_Then why is the snow red?_

_Where is all the red coming from?_

Shuddering, Emily opened her eyes. One of her very first memories, after she had seen her so called family murdered. Murder, was the only thing she could remember. But, Then again, she did not have very many memories for a girl of 4, one who had amnesia, or some type of memory trauma.

Emily brushed her dark hair out of her eyes. The young Italian girl was sitting in a bustling police office, as she had for the last few days. She knew it was probably loud, but could not hear them. She was in her own world.

"_Poor kid. The whole family murdered."_

"_I heard that it was that new serial killer in Venice."_

"_I think the news said recently that L was working on the case!"_

"_I heard her father belonged in the Italian mob, and the reason they all died was cause he got in a fight with a Russian mob member."_

She stayed silent, scanning the police office for anyone who might bother her. Every once and a while, adults would ask her if she was cold, if she wanted some food and ect. She stayed here at nights, generally watched by every person in the building. The law of Venice was still trying to figure out what to do with her.

When she was sure that no one was watching her too closely, she closed her eyes, trying to fall into the comforting blanket of sleep. The gentle hum of the computers and the soft voices lulled her to sleep. So, she was obviously surprised when somebody shook her shoulder gently.

Her eyes opened wide, and she yelped, scrambling away from the figure that was crouched to her left.

Her left hand clenched the place where the person had touched her. It felt as if the person had burned her. She blinked a couple times, trying to focus. Slowly, the figures made more sense.

The person next to her was a older male, smiling at her. He looked like a stereotypical European man. Bowler hat, suit, cane and a briefcase, he fit the bill well.

" Hello" He spoke in a kindly voice. "Emilliana, I am here to help you. You may call me Watari."

Instantly, they girl had 3 thoughts:

1. The man was different then all the other reporters and journalists, who thought too highly of themselves for her taste. She often enjoyed shooting them dirty looks. He actually looked like he wanted to help her, instead of getting a promotion for a best seller, front page story.

2. His real name was very unlikely actually Watari. She was 89 percent sure, anyway. The man hardly looked of Japanese ancestry.

3. She narrowed her eyes when she heard her real name being spoken. She did not exactly like the name "Emilliana" The Italian girl referred to herself as "Emily" and requested that others did so too.

She fished in her bundle of blankets for a pad of paper and a pencil. That was the other thing about Emily. She could not talk.

Well, she could. Just not around others. She had diagnosed herself with Selective Mutism Thursday. She encouraged the others to read about it on Google, to shed some light on her peculiar situation. ( A/N LOL HINT)

When she finally found her writing utensils, she expressed her 3 thoughts on paper. When she was done, she handed her childish handwriting to the elderly man.

He read for a couple seconds, before chuckling. He looked up, searching her face for some more environmental answers. His gaze settled on her hand, partly showing under her sleeve. Self consciously, she pulled her sleeve down, hiding the bandages. The scars from the angry Russian man where still heavily imprinted on her skin.

"Emily, then." His smile seemed permanently fixated on his face. The young girl nodded. She was happy inside, but dared not to smile. Now, she trusted no one.

She was surprised when his smile slid off his face, and he looked grave.

" Of course, I need your help with this unpleasant situation. I do have good news for you, but I need some information first." He was talking awfully low, a bare whisper, as if he only wanted her to hear. She turned rigid as he spoke. She no longer wanted to talk about Death. She wanted to go out. See the sun. Apparently, happiness was a thing too heavily priced for a place such as this.

"It depends." She wrote on the pad. He peered at her as she wrote, still crouched on the ground.

"On what, may I pertain?" His voice was seemingly innocent.

Her scowl got deeper. "It depends on your good news, and how much information I can give you." She scribbled fast.

"Let's talk out the details, yes?" He offered her a hand. Hesitating, her dark eyes looked up at the elder man. She had an inner battle with herself, weighing the pros and cons for almost a full minute, but the man never faltered.

" _Yes, lets." _She thought warily, carefully placed her hand into his larger one. He gave it a gentle squeeze and stood up, pulling her up beside him. She brushed of the dirt from her pants' knees.

Whoever this man was, he had intrigued and surprised the girl. His soft sent of sugar, or at least, being around sugar a lot. The way he seemed to not want to hurt her. The way he had trusted her with information, even though she was a child. He was certainly peculiar.

Besides, she was 30 percent sure he had candy on his person somewhere. Those chances where good enough for any child.

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fails at last sentence humor

R&R, people. First story ever.

gets on knees and begs for you to review


	2. Chapter 2

AGH. My computer mouse is dyingggggggggg...

Chapter two hurriedly typed out after school. **_REVIEWWWWWW_**

once again, this stuff sounds so much better in my head.

**_BTW: HELP PLZ. SCHOOL IS KILLING ME._**

For English, we have to submit a sentence poem, tell me if this sounds good:

"You see a dark and conspiring tunnel of evil and unacomplishment, I see light and a way to the future and happyness simply smeared with drops of grease."

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The speed of dark

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Chapter 2

She sat, for now, in an empty interrogation room. _Why the morbid surroundings? _she thought warily. The place was dusty and dirty, and stunk of sweat, grime, and most likely blood. She grimaced as she spotted a dark colored stain on the wall. If faintly echoed the color crimson.

She spun around, surprised when the door opened. It was that old man again, still stereotypical, still holding a briefcase. He sat down in the rickety chair opposite of hers at the metal table. He smiled upon seeing her position, for she was sitting, holding her knees tightly to her chest, her chin resting on her right hand.

She sat up a bit straighter and tipped her head to the side, frowning, wondering what exactly was so funny. He seemed to get the message. He chuckled, then spoke softly.

"It's nothing really, you just remind me of someone." He said nothing more and concentrated on opening the black leather case. She quietly decided that was the best answer she would get for now, and watched him carefully.

He finally opened the case, and slid out something thin, sleek, and shiny. A laptop.

He carefully pressed a button with slender fingers, and a letter L popped up on the screen. The image flickered, then responded with a message saying "other contact not yet stabilized." Emily frowned to herself. The man also frowned, and waited a couple moments before sliding into a chair. Apparently he was interested in what she thought, because he spoke aloud again, something about how the chair was mighty uncomfortable, but the girl did not care to answer. She was too busy looking intently at the screen.

And awkward silence fell over the small room.

" Candy? He probably wont respond for a while, you might as well get comfortable." He held out something in the palm of his hand, something in a wrapper. She shook her head slowly. Her trustfulness of this man was slipping, slipping fast.

His face looked downtrodden, but at least he wouldn't start a conversation again. Meanwhile, Emily was making a mental note that whoever was about to talk to her was male. And that the fact the man was practically contradicting himself. He says to get comfortable, but recognized that the chairs were not, in fact, comfortable.

Boy, that guy was nervous. He practically skipped around the room when the connection was stabilized. The letter L flicked across the screen again, and Emily was startled when a electronically altered voice came though the speakers, crackling slightly. Or, at least, she hoped it was electronically altered or else who ever was speaking probably had a hard time picking up girls with that voice.

Watari sat up a bit straighter, as if this guy was the most important and intresting thing to ever happen, but Emily continued to sit in the same position.

The voice spoke without inflection or tone. Frankly, to her, it sounded dead.

"Your name is Emily, correct?"

She nodded slightly.

"My name is L."

She made no move this time. She preferred not to give away anything at this point.

"This may be a hard subject to talk about, but can you tell me what happened? It is essential to save oth-" He stopped mid sentence. She heard someone quietly mutter something about her intelligence.

"It is very important. Do you know what important means?

Her eyes darkened. She knew. She also knew what essential meant. So this guy was doubting her?

Grabbing the pad roughly, she wrote furiously.

"I know what it means, you jerk. Essential too. Do you really think that lowly of me? Guess my intelligence, you meanie." She shoved it up at the screen, scowling.

The voice muttered something, then chuckled. Finally:

"Fine then. Have it your way. Now, do you remember what happened?

She blinked up at him. Suddenly, she felt very small and claustrophobic. She began to rock back and forth ever so slightly, her hands clenched.

With shaking hands, the 5-year-old picked up the paper.

"If you meet me in person. I don't feel comfortable talking to a computer."

There was silence on the other end. She became afraid, what if he yelled, or screamed and hit her? All at once, every healing gash on her person began to burn. She shut her eyes tightly, and forced her self to repeat in her mind that it was all psychological. Her fingers clenched the bottom of the seat.

"Alright then. I've got time. Watari, you know my schedule. Normal procedures, please. I prefer not to take chances."

Emily opened one eye, then the other. She felt herself relax, and had the feeling of a ball of air let out her lungs. She sighed heavily. _See, nothing to worry about. Nothing happened._

She could practically feel the computer smirking at her discomfort.

The connection was disabled, and the screen went blank. Emily scowled, whoever this guy was he was certainly a pompous one.

"Emily, would you like to leave now or wait till tomorrow?"

Emily paused, then held up two fingers, nodding. _The second choice please. I don't want to go today._

The elder man smiled. "I cant take you with me now if you don't want to leave now. But rest assured, I will be arriving here tomorrow, same time, the front gate. I'll speak to the head policeman, then I'll get going."

Emily panicked, and shot out of her chair before the door closed on Watari. She reached out, grabbing the end of his tailored suit. She looked up at him sadly, with wide, innocent black eyes. _Please don't go_, she begged silently. _Please. Nobody cares about me. Except for you…_

He crouched down next to her, taking her hand in his. He looked back at her.

"I promise I will come back. Things may seem scary now, but L will sort things out. There are better things then this. You will be happy someday."

She stared silently, reflecting on his words. He waited, not speaking.

Slowly she nodded, smiling weakly. He glanced at his watch.

"Oh!" He jumped up. "I've got to go now, I'm late. I'll be back tomorrow!" And with that, he shot out the door with a running start. She sprinted after him, but slowed to a stop at a window. She watched him jump into the driver's side of a black B&W, and sped off.

She pressed her hands and forehead against the window pane, making fog with her body heat and small breaths, in and out rhythmically. She would wait. She would be happy someday, too.

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Review Plz. First story ever. Need heeeeelllpppppp.


	3. Chapter 3

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WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...

My mouse...need to replace batteries.

done while listening to:

coldplay-vida la viva  
damien rice-cold water the killers-when you were young

All great songs, You should check them out. (pulls out knife, Then says in dark evil voice)

**_You should._**

Alas, spellcheck is my friend, but please say something if I missed a word or two.

The speed of dark

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Chapter 3

**_2 weeks later_**

The dark haired girl stood alone at the iron gates, tilting her head to stare at the sky, she found she couldn't see the clouds unless she took a step back, because the gate was too high. As the young girl scowled at the iron bars obstructing her view, Watari walked up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Some thing wrong?" She glanced up at him, then drew up her arm to point at the gate, then at the sky.

He paused, then spoke. "You want to see the sky? The we should step inside. Clearer view."

Suddenly the girl recognized an emotion as Watari stepped from behind her and fished a key from his pocket. He jammed it into the rust colored lock, then twisted it, and with a gentle shove of his shoulder, let the gate swing inside.

She was scared. Scared, anxious, and anticipating a new home. Excited too.

Coming back to her senses as a presence appeared at her side from behind her. She glanced up at the raven-haired man. L. He slouched a bit, biting on his thumbnail. He nodded, then looked sideways at the younger girl, matching her gaze for a split second, then gestured at the front gate. That girl reminded him of…well…himself at a young age.

Her wide eyes stared at the large estate inside. Her body became rigid and she froze. She was sort of scared. New environment, after all.

Faintly, she could hear children laughing and yelling, and she could see others too, walking with groups of friends or playing games outside.

"Can we not stand out here all day? I have things to do. I smell cake somewhere." spoke the young detective, staring out into space, sniffing the air.

Emily ran forward with a start and stood next to Watari, wondering what would happen next. Watari left her side and strode up the gothic-church-looking house. L followed shortly after.

"Coming?" Watari asked, gesturing towards the house. Startled, the Italian girl nodded and bravely walked towards the large oak doors.

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Inside

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Mello sat, broadly scowling out the window at no one in particular. But why waste time scowling at no one when you could glare and Near? Yeah. That sounded good. He would glare at Near.

"Ugh…He said he would be here by now…."

"Relax Mel, He _is_ coming. He _does _have to bring a kid here." Matt spoke, trying to calm his buddy down and win in Mario Kart. Matt was a well known multitasking king.

"Stupid kid. Said they would be in the top five."

"Why is that bad?" Matt asked, not really paying attention. Not really caring either.

"What if they steal my place? Then I'll have to beat two people. And that would suck _big time_."

A younger voice spoke up across the room. "Mello, this give you no reason the hate the child. They would simply be better than you. And personally, I think you _need _a good kick in the head."

"Near, you know what-" Mello was cut off by the sound of a car pulling up to the house.

"HE'S HERE!"

"…no need to shout, Mello, We are not deaf…" muttered Near coldly.

The three boys clambered to the window anyway, trying to peer outside with anxious looks on their faces, trying to get a good look at their Idol with unwavering eyes.

"…."

"…………"

"……………………….."

"AGHHHHH STUPID TREE" Mello shouted again.

"Oh well. I guess we just may have to wait…." said Matt, sitting down and flicking the power button on his DS.

"Hmmm…The oak has obstructed our viewing area. I think we should continue waiting. If the end, we will see him anyway." Near walked back over to his puzzle, only to flip it over and start again.

Mello slid down into the bay window cushion again, angrily biting off a piece of chocolate and scowling at the back of Near's head with newfound hatred.

Hey, at least this time he wasn't wasting any scowls.

* * *

Hallway

* * *

"First things first, I want you to meet three of my top successors. You will see them often, as the top five often have classes together."

She nodded, nervously twiddling her thumbs together. She stopped, then shoved her hand in the front pockets of her shirt.

"So Watari will bring your stuff to your room, but I want you to meet them first. After that, one of them can show you around. And after _that,_ I can show you to your room." He gave a sideways glance at the nervous girl.

"There are about 30 kids here, so it's very close knit. But you will make friends, either with your intelligence group or your age group." He glanced down again as she anxiously tried to take in everything at once.

He turned and crouched down next to her. She stared back at him, unwavering.

"You will make friends." He smiled a bit, tilting his head to the side. "You can be happy here. Nothing to be worried about."

She nodded vigorously, then glanced up at the door to her right.

"Right in here…" He hesitated then gave a gentle squeeze to the girl's small hand in his before turing the knob and letting in the light.

"L!"

* * *

I am going crazy with these line thingies. So much fun. X3

Well, later.

R&R please. First story, need some critique.


	4. Chapter 4

Yay. I got a new book today. Tuesdays with Morrie. Personaly, I like the author's other book The five people you meet in heaven better.

I turned in a story to my english teacher, and I'm kinda nervous of what she'll think of it...

We are watching "Finding Forester" in English. Pretty good movie. The ending was sad, though. We still have fifteen minutes to go.

AGH. I have my Spanish final next week. I'm going to FAIL. Big time.

The speed of dark

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Chapter 4

Emily blinked back at the sunlight, trying to clear her head. Sunlight peered through the window, lighting up the hardwood floors, and as she stared down at her feet she had to blink a couple times to get the dark spots to go away.

People talked but she could not hear them. She was too nervous, her throught was all closed up and itched with a burning feeling, and her hand got sweaty as she gripped the bottom of her darkly colored shirt. She was startled and jumped a bit, staggering back when somebody called her name in a loud annoyed voice.

"Emily? Emily are you all right? You look pale." Asked the dark haired detective in a voice that said he didn't actually care. Well, paler then usual, anyway. For an Italian kid, she was as white as a piece of paper. Now her skin looked like a pale bluish color. She blinked up at the dark haired detective that had called her name.

She nodded. Peering around the room at three other figures. A blonde boy wearing all black and had the kind of face that looked perpetually angry, a red head boy who was tall and lanky with a striped shirt and jeans with a pair of UV goggles on his head with a PSP in his hand. Both looked around 11 or 12, except for the last boy who was sitting on the floor, staring silently at her instead of talking to L. He wore simple bleach white flannel pajamas, and was stacking legos on the ground in a complicated design.

"So your name's Emily, huh?" Said the blonde condescendingly, his hands on his hips, scowling at her.

"Genius, huh? Fine then, what's 3818039 times 3562 divided by 40.4496?

"336,217,290.60361536331632451247973." She spoke quietly, staring back at her pigeon toes.

Mello, not expecting her to answer had turned back to L. He was quiet for a moment before speaking a dumbfounded "Huh?"

"336,217,290.60361536331632451247973" She said again, shyly looking up with an annoyed tone. The room got very quiet now, and Emily was beginning to wonder if she had done something wrong.

"265897423 divided by 36?" His voice was tentative now, wondering if she had just got a lucky guess.

"7386039.52777777777777777778." Why? Wasn't this normal? Couldn't everyone do it? It came so easily…The answers always came to her in her head…

It went on for several minutes now, The blonde asking the 5 year old questions, wondering how she was doing it. After almost ten minutes and no stumping, Mello gave up, furious. That girl was better then HIM!?

Impossible. Matt spoke up now, realizing that Mello wasn't courteous enough to give out names.

"My name's Matt. He's Mello. That kid over there is known as Near." He continued to play the small hand held game. She nodded again, to scared to speak. Fortunately, L broke the silence for her.

"Well, I've got to show her to her room. We'll see you at dinner. Don't tease or hurt Near. Sit together at a table in the back. Come on, Emily" He tugged at her pigtails, and she swerved around and left with him.

"That kid is not human."

* * *

Sorry, this one's kinda short. I did'nt have a lot of time to write...

Anyway, I decided on Math to be her "Special Ability" If you've ever heard of Autistic people who have photographic memory and can solve complicated problems in thier heads in seconds, Emily is that kinda person.

Just to let you all know, I dont go back and revise these, I just type and spell check. Basicly drafts with correct grammar. It's a writing practice thing I learned from my teacher. I came up with another story this morning, out of nowhere, so I might put this on hold to type it out.

It's about Matt's cousin after the Kira case. She works as an obbsessed gamer who does part time detective work and missing person cases, and working the rest of the time as a assasian. She meets up with Near and he gives her a gift from Matt. It'll probably be a oneshot, but a long one.

I CAN HAZ R&R PLZ?


	5. Chapter 5

Written right after tennis practice.

Again, another short chapter, sorry.

Done while listening to Linkin Park & The Killers.

Again, these stories are made with no revisions, just spell check and post. These are just practice, so if you find anything weird, tell me.

The Speed of Dark

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Chapter 5

"Can you speak English? I've been speaking Italian the entire time. To be honest, you will need to learn how to speak in English if you want to stay here."

"Mi dispiace? I'll iniziare lo studio. I did'nt sapere ... "(1)

"It's ok. For now, just do what you have been doing, pointing and hand gestures."

L continued down the hallway, slouching over. She had to practically run to keep up because he was walking at a brisk pace with long legs. She, on the other hand was not as blessed. She jogged to catch up, following a couple steps behind.

"Camminare lento! I cant tenere il passo!"(2) She huffed at him with a pained, red face.

"Slow down? Fine." He stopped, waiting for her at the other end of the hallway. She pushed herself up and walked toward him with as much dignity as a clumsy 5 year old can.

"(3)Dove è la mia stanza?" _I don't want to walk anymore_ she thought warily.

"Your room? Right here, actually. You have a roommate. It that fine with you?

She nodded, wondering who it was.

He pushed open the door gingerly, and finding no one inside, walked through the door frame, Emily following suit.

The room was mostly bare on one side, a bed that was already made, a dresser, one desk, and a bay window that was shared with both sides. Though neatness was not a word that could be used to describe the other side. She made a face at the clothes strewn on the floor and insanely pink bedspread, with books, papers, and trash covering the floor. The words _disaster area _passed through her head for a split second. She had to bite her tongue so she wouldn't groan outwardly.

L didn't seem to notice though, so she quickly turned back to him with a displeasured face. She had a feeling this roommate wasn't exactly ideal. Her expression changed when she spotted a book case filled with… PANCAKES. Well not really. Actual books was more like it.

"Fresco! 123 libri(4)?" she counted them instantly.

"Yes…" He smiled crookedly.

He interrupted her gazing up at the books, and said, "Well, Watari already dropped off your stuff. You can put it away after dinner." He warily looked at the clock, then "Which we're going to be late for" He added as an afterthought.

"Come, let's go… I want some ice cream." He turned on one heel and walked out without another word.

She shyly looked at the place he had once been. She paused for a minute, looking at her belongings, wondering if "It" was there. Her fingers tingled with excitement, go get it they cheered up at her.

The only picture salvaged from the murder of a small Italian family, including Emily, her mother, father, and three brothers.

She desperately wanted to see the faces of the people that had loved her unconditionally, and the brother that had given his life to save her when he could have ran out himself.

The youngest and most kind faced of the three brothers, Antonio was the name written on the back of the photo.

She sighed, and disrespected the thoughts of her fingertips, who yearned to brush against the glossy front, and ran out, trying to catch up with L.

I know, she doesnt understand english, yet L talks to her in English. Just go with it. XD I'm so tierd, and that was the best I could come up with. 3

Dont bother looking up the Italian. I have it right here:

1:"I'm sorry. I'll study it. I did'nt know..."

2:" Slow down! I cant keep up!"

3: "Where is my room?"

4:" Intresting... 123 books..."

I might update tomorow, If I can...

PLZ READ AND REVIEW. COOKIES FOR ANYONE WHO DOES.


	6. Chapter 6

Wheeeeeee... sorry, I did'nt update yesterday. I had church, then tennis practice for 3 hours until 5, and after that I still had homework to do. I was very exausted when I finished.

If you find any spelling mistakes, please tell me.

* * *

The speed of dark

* * *

Chapter 6

Emily folded her arms on the table and put her chin on her forearms with half lidded eyes. A lot of people were talking, and a few minutes they had seemed so loud, but they seemed to slowdown now, into a murmur that was lulling her to try and remember something, anything about the family in the photo. Mello interrupted her, quite rudely, with another question.

She scowled and repeated the numbers in her head, staring at her food. They were in the cafeteria, and most people were done, but many stayed behind to talk and chit chat with others. Emily had given up listening, because the English words were, as of now, making no sense, and she was having a headache. Mello sat across from her, Near to her right, L to her left, and Matt diagonal from her. Watari sat a few seats away, talking to another child who had come up with a question.

And that was when she could see it. Well, she couldn't see it, she could hear it. A small tune, going at a slow, sad pace of melancholy. She sat up erratically, gripping the sides of her chair, eyes wide. Nobody else had reacted to the music.

So, honestly, the first thought she had was "I'm going crazy. I hear music in my head. Oh god. Oh dio…"

Suddenly, her hand moved on their own. The moved to the table, and she could only helplessly watch as they began to stretch and move and tap keys that weren't there…

"Do you play the piano?" She looked up, seeing Matt watching her, a spoon halfway to his mouth. He had spent the first part of dinner playing a video game, and had just begun eating. She quietly noticed the music had stopped.

He grinned hopelessly. " I do. Never took lessons though, just randomly started playing by ear."

She blinked up at him, her mouth cemented shut.

"I can take you to the piano we have here. You can play, I'm sure."

Before she could say no, the red haired boy had turned to talk to a older girl with pigtails. After he had spoken, she promptly hit him over the head. She turned away, feeling a bit queasy over the violence.

She turned to L, waiting till he stopped speaking to Watari. As he lifted another strawberry to his mouth in his own eccentric way, she tugged on his sleeve.

"Yes Emily-san?" He said, his eyes glazed over, mouth full.

"Is there a Piano here?" She asked in the quietest voice possible.

"Yes. Why? I trust you want to know for something important."

She tentatively looked up, pausing.

"…I think I can play…"

"Think. How does one only think they know how to play or not? Either they do or do not."

"I don't know…" she sounded a bit hurt, and disappointed before continuing.

"I just…I remember… something… The keys…and a song…" She looked up again, wondering.

"What song?"

"Pavane, by Gabriel Faur." She answered quickly, wondering how she knew. She smiled slightly, but the smile disappeared as somebody tugged on her hand. Unready for it, she tumbled backwards off the chair, into the red haired boy who had cause the problem. He caught her by the arm and made sure she could stand on both feet before letting go.

He peered up at L, pausing before speaking.

"I'm bringing her to the piano. She wants to hear me play." She inwardly frowned at that statement, she had never said anything like that.

"That's fine. Just make sure she gets to her room afterwards." The younger boy grinned, a glimmer of happiness in his eyes. He quickly turned on one heel, and giving a two fingered salute, said "Yup!", dragging her behind. She stumbled after him, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

* * *

Dio means god in Italian.

Whee. Let's just say Matt is speaking Italian for my sanity's sake.

And to answer your question cho-jeevas, I dont know Italian fluently. I just know some words. Google language tool is my best friend :)

I CAN HAZ R&R PLZ?


	7. Chapter 7

Wheeeeeeeeeee...

I need to do my homework.

I love my new The Killers CD!

lol...I dunno... doodles on paper

The speed of Dark

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Chapter 7

Emily stood behind Matt as he played. The song was rough in some parts, and he had to check his fingerings twice, stopping the song, but suddenly she knew the song he was playing. Mario's song. _How fitting _she thought warily, gripping the bottom of her sweatshirt, watching his hands.

He finally finished, and spun on the bench with a grin on his face.

"Did-ja like it?" He asked, anticipation in his eyes. She nodded, gazing back up at him shyly. He scooted over to the left on the bench and patted the space next to him.

"I want to hear you play." He explained, watching from beneath the goggles. She carefully pulled herself up and sat, her hands hovering over the piano keys in a playing position. Her eyes flicked around, nervously she lowered her hands so that they barely skimmed the top of the keys, waiting. And suddenly, as if her hands had heard her inside her head screaming for help, they pressed down, moving on their own. She blinked, getting more confident as she moved from one octave to another, playing the song she had heard in her head.

Soon she had a small smile on her face, playing quickly, hitting the keys just as she wanted with no mistakes. And for a moment, she forgot she was in an orphanage, sitting next to a boy, that her family was dead, and that nobody loved her now. She was simply playing a sad song on the piano. She knew the words in Latin, as Gabriel had intended, but chose to sing in her head instead.

She sat, watching her own hands with surreal movement, listening to the music. When it finally ended, she turned to face Matt with a dazed look. He was staring, at her, his mouth slightly open.

"You memorized that whole thing?" He blinked down at her.

She simply shrugged, not thinking it was weird.

"It…It was seven minutes long!" She blinked up at him, not understanding, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Fine. But you cant play Mario's theme song." She scowled, hating when people doubted her, and rested her fingertips on the keys. She hesitated, knowing she could do it, her mind was screaming the key notes at her, But what if they were wrong?

She could take a chance.

She started out slowly at first, but got faster as she assured herself that it was right. She began to play faster unlike Matt, with no breaks in between, waiting for the rests in the song, and played, simply liking the feeling of her fingertips on the marble like keys. She finished up with a flourish, and turned to face Matt, but her expression changed to surprise as she realized he was no longer sitting next to her.

She turned around quickly, spinning her body on the bench to face the back of the room. She let out a small inaudible gasp as she realized that Matt was there, but somebody else was too. L. Matt had dragged L to the room when she hadn't been paying attention.

They stared silently at each other, waiting for the other say something. L broke the silence, as he usually did.

"Emily…have you heard that song before?"

"Only on his DS..." She answered in the quietist voice possible.

He was silent for a moment, not looking at her, but through her, pondering the possibilities. Finally, he left Matt's side and walked over to the Piano. He sat down next to her, staring straight ahead. Eventually he raised his hands and began to play a melody, one she had never heard before. He played several keys at once, but she heard each one separately, knowing the exact key he was playing, even when she closed her eyes. To her, even the keys he played that were next to each other sounded as different as one would think to colors blue and red.

"Play it." It sounded like and order, so she snapped open her eyes, and placed her hand an octave higher on the grand piano. She paused, and then…

She could only play. The identical tune. She knew. She had done it with her eyes closed. She finished exactly as he had, then pulled her hands back and placed them in her lap.

"You closed your eyes…" He spoke thoughtfully, but she decided after a few seconds of silence that it was not a rhetorical question, still gazing up at him.

"Did you know that song?" She shook her head, making her dark hair fly around her

head.

"So you simply knew what keys to play, with no practice, because you memorized each individual key that I played?"

She paused for a second, wondering if that was how she did it. She decided that would be the best way she could explain it, for she had no words for the process in her head. After a mental executive decision, she nodded.

"Emily, have you ever heard of a musical savant?"

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Lol. Would that count as a cliff hanger? I dunno.

YES MATT CAN PLAY THE MARIO THEME SONG ON THE PIANO. AND IF HE CANT, LETS JUST SAY HE DID, CAUSE HE PROBABLY DOES, KNOWING HIM.

sings along with a song

go listen to _the killers_ on youtube or something...

I CAN HAZ R&R PLZ?


	8. author note

GAH.

So I wrote a whole chapter, a long one, and, just my luck, it got DELETED.

SO. Because school is ending in three days, I probably wont update till Saturday. Don't worry, I have all summer to write. J

See you guys in a few days,

New York style bagels


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry this chapter is a little late, I stopped in the middle of last week, we went to New york on saturday to see family, and I slept in the next day and then had tennis for three hours, and we went out to eat. I was sleepy, but felt bad so I made this one a bit long and went back through to make it sort of like a final copy so it was a bit better then my usual writing.

If you want chapters of this quality, then just say so, but keep in mind that it will take longer.

MY SCHOOL IS OUT YAY SUMMER. (spaz)

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The speed of dark

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Chapter 9

Emily sat on her knees in the middle of an empty room. Sun light streamed in through the windows, yet it was cold and humid outside, so fog was misting the glass. The hardwood floors of the room had been the perfect place to start building with blocks on the second day of her arrival, so Emily sat in the middle of a small fort made with multicolored blocks of different shapes and sizes. The small building was carefully and meticulously built so that nothing was out of place. Just the way she liked it.

She picked up another block and stacked it, precariously leaning forward without balancing on her left hand. Just her luck, the door was slammed open, scaring her to death so that she fell over, flinching as she braced herself for the floor, blocks tumbling down after her. A larger hand found hers beneath the ruble and yanked hard, pulling her up. She opened her eyes to find Mello scowling down at her. He let go of her hand so she could safely sit on the blocks that had once been something magnificent to her.

"Yo, get up. We have class." He stated and spun around leaving the room. She sat, blinking up at the sunlight with dazed look on her face. She quietly mumbled a sorry and pushed herself up off the floor, dusting her knees off. Lately her dress had changed from jeans, a tee shirt, and a jacket, to black leggings and a light blue and white shirt that was extra long (but not wide) and looked more like a dress (_A/N: Do you know what I'm talking about? Girls wear them all the time at my school,_ _they are shirts that look like dresses_.) . To finish it off, she wore black ballerina type shoes, with her dark hair in messy pigtails that sort of defeated the purpose, because her odds and ends bangs still hung in her face. The clothes were courtesy of her messy girly girl roommate, Tabitha, A ten year old French blonde.

Still in a crazy daze, she leapt gracefully from the pile of blocks into the hallway, following the essence of evil and destruction that followed Mello everywhere. She ran forward, letting her feet slide on the turns until she neared a doorway. She slowed to a skidding stop at the doorframe and quietly walked in.

The room was not as bright, but still had three windows and hardwood floors. A desk sat in the front, and rows of smaller desks which were usually only used by the top five students at Whammy's house. Five desks, three of which were presently occupied by Matt, Near, and Mello. Linda still had yet to show up, and she had arrived just now. She carefully glided between the rows of desks to one closer towards the back. On her first day, she had made the mistake of sitting in front of Mello (He had poked her in the back all day with a sharp pencil) and was careful not to do it again.

She let out a small sigh, staring out the window with a glazed over look on her face, waiting for the professor to show up. She swung her legs back and forth, because she was too short to reach the floor. Her left foot gently brushed against the surface of the glossy white board underneath her desk in a small rack. (_AN: They have these things at my school where there's a metal rack under your desk to put books and binders in when you don't use them, so I'm not sure what the official name is_) She frowned, remembering that she was still unable to talk to anyone here, as she was always too nervous. Stupid selective mutism she thought haughtily, brushing her messy bangs out of her face. The whiteboard was for communicating with other people, as not being able to talk wasn't exactly the greatest thing ever.

Linda practically skipped in the door, waving and yelling goodbye to somebody outside going to a different class. She carefully found herself a desk diagonally in front of Emily, then turned around, grinning.

"Hi, so, how are you?" she seemed especially hyper and ecstatic. Emily…not so much so.

She nodded, flicking her eyes back to the clouds outside the windowsill, praying that the conversation would end there. As long as nobody expected her to talk back, she was fine, feeling quite normal. But when the situation called for vocalization, her throught would close up and she would get really nervous.

Her small hands clenched as Linda spoke again. It wasn't that she disliked the older girl, it was just she couldn't stand loud, very outspoken happy people like her, who where often matriculate people with a need for order. The two girls were simply not compatible.

"So, where exactly is your room? I mean, I've seen you around her before, but really just glimpses, and hey, you know this boy Charlie? He's really cute, I think I might like him. I've got my English class with him, he's always been really sweet and-"

Emily decided she could stop paying attention there, and started to pretend, nodding and smiling in all the right parts, watching the older blonde girl as she spoke. But on the inside, this girl's run on sentences were now killing her. She felt a bit dead on the inside when Matt indirectly saved her from a horrible death by the hands of the English language.

"Ha ha, hey Mel, Linda likes Charlie!" He began to chant a tease around the girl as she made threats, denying and blushing a whole lot. Emily watched from the sidelines. As if not realizing it, she smiled.

"You should smile a lot more. Now you actually look happy. People's reactions to frowns are never good. Even chemical ones reacting to signals in the brain." It was a small quiet voice behind her, belonging to a certain white haired boy, who was, at the moment, stacking Legos. She spun around, a bit scared at first, but then realizing it was just him, and not a particular evil Russian man she had the bad luck of knowing.

"Apparently, your supposed to be third or forth in line. They haven't accurately tested you yet. Just a rumor, I think." She nodded slowly, wondering why he was talking to her. The day earlier, he had said nothing, and, judging from the permanent scowl on his face, she had been a bit scared.

"So exactly how old are you?" He asked, his eyes flicking up at her every once and a while.

She held up five fingers on her right hand, using her left to hang onto the chair she was sitting in, or better yet described, crouching in.

"You may call me Near, I'm 12 years old as of last December." She nodded, wondering what to say next. Or, what he would say next. A slight smile crossed her face as she thought of how this boy was the only one who seemed to respect the meaning of "personal space." He also seemed to know what the words "Inside voice" meant. She smiled shyly, watching his hands move as he built the miniature block tower on the desk. She counted the exact number of blocks on the desk in less then 5 seconds. Photographic memory came in handy sometimes.

"473..." she whispered softly to nobody in particular. Her eyes flicked back up to the older boy, and she realized that his scowl had returned yet again. He too, was watching his own hands as they created, concentrating his grey orbs fully on the task.

Her eyes blurred for a second, causing colors to mix together, and the florescent lights to swell. She closed her eyes, finding a haven in the darkness, and felt an odd falling feeling, like slipping into a dark pool of foreign substance. That was when the voices started.

"Ne, little sister, you need to grow. You are so short and tiny."

"Precious Emilliana, we are all very, very proud of you."

"That's OK. Because I know you still love me anyway."

"We should teach her to play the Piano!"

The voices kept talking, but they too began to blur together, causing her head to pound and fists to clench. They were mostly male, younger boy voices, and every once and a while, a woman's voice. But they soon tried to talk over each other, and it was too loud for her, why couldn't they stop? She tried clamping her hands over her ears, but she couldn't find her hands, she was completely numb. They were screaming about something now, and she could barely decipher it. Someone… Somebody was coming up the stairs…

Somebody had a butcher knife.

She opened her eyes, confused. The blurring and the voices stopped all at once… not even an echo in her head. The silence was over bearing, loud, if you know what I mean, until somebody broke it. Near, who had momentarily stopped stacking blocks, staring at her. Staring down at her? Wait...

"Emily, are you all right? You fell out of the chair. You look a bit pale too…"

She let out a small "Oh" and pushed herself up from the awkward position on the floor. She realized, slowly, that Near was the only one who had noticed, or cared, as Mello and Matt were still teasing Linda near the front of the room. She carefully slid back into the chair, muttering something about losing her balance.

Did you hear that? The imaginary people talking? Sounded a little too psycho to ask, so she stayed quiet, thinking.

Who had those voices belonged to?

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Yeah.

Sorry this one is so late, again. But at least it's of better quality.

(gives cookie to all reviewers)

I CAN HAZ R&R PLZ?


	10. Chapter 10

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Ewwww.

I have severe writers block, so I decided to skip 2 years. Sorry for the wait, I was hanging with some friends for the most part of the week, and exploring the forest in my back yard.

_

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_

_The speed of Dark_

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_chapter 10_

_

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_

_(_two years later)

_She simply stumbles along the hallway, eyes wide. What had she just seen, and why did it hurt so much? Her legs give way, she crumples to the floor, holding her stomach, everything hurts so much but she still turns her head, making sure that the man wasn't following. He was not._

_Why did everything hurt? Cuts, scratches along her arms, a giant gash making an X across her stomach, clothes coated in blood, when some of it wasn't hers. But it also hurt her heart, yet she couldn't cry, much less scream. Those people could not have deserved that._

_She pushes herself up again, one hand on the wall, leaving a bloody hand print. She keeps it there, sliding against the plaster as she slowly moves toward the door, leaving a messed up trail of blood. There is light outside, people yelling, but she is still afraid, what if these people were like him?_

_A cold hand touches her back, and she opens her mouth to scream, but no sound comes out, without checking to see who it was, she bolts out the door, into the light, scared to death. She keeps running, running past people who yell for her to stop. Somebody was laughing maniacally behind her, screaming into the night, but with several gun shots the laughter subsides._

_She can't run anymore. The lights are dim behind her, people are running, running to do the same horrible things to her as the man had done to that family, but it's so much easier to just give up and wait for the darkness to put her to sleep. She falls softly to her knees in the snow, and asks herself the same paralyzing question._

_If snow is white, where is all the red coming from?_

Emily opened her eyes and woke with a jolt, sitting up. She pants in the darkness, trying to make sense of what was fiction and what was reality. That dream had seemed too real, too vivid. Slowly it dawns on her she is sitting in a playroom, one bay window letting in a soft blue light, showing the other person in the room, who was sitting on the floor, faced away from her, dressed in white.

"I see you've woken up." the voice pauses. " You had a nightmare." He says with a certain finality.

Slowly, she stands, her head screaming in protest. She wraps the small, thin blue blanket tightly around her shoulders, shivering, and takes a careful step forward, and another, and another, till she is standing at his side. She is seven, almost eight now, she shouldn't be this weak, the next L cannot have any weakness.

The white haired boy is silent, as if waiting for something. Without looking up, her speaks, and says the three darkest words in the world.

"L is dead."

And she can only stare at the back of his head, eyes wide and unbelieving. And she uttered three words back, in a soft, childish voice that could only belong to her.

"You'll catch Kira." she said, but not just saying, but knowing, too.

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Ewww. I dont like this one too much.

R and R?


	11. Chapter 11

Yay, I love the new mellenium is on tonight on VH1, can't wait!

Aaaaaaaannnnnd, I still have writers block. I dunno what to write now :

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The speed of Dark

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"_I guess I never really paid that much attention to the Kira case_," Emily thought, frowning, as she walked down the hallway by herself, her laptop under her arm. "_But L dieing? That's… That's… Unheard of."_

"_I mean…Mello always paid attention_…" she stopped short.

That was right. Mello did.

And now Mello was gone, he had left without even looking back. Matt disappeared a few days after him, and adults went into a frenzy, though she new it had only been a matter of time. Near was planning to leave too, this she knew, She had uh… "accidentally" hacked into his computer 3 days ago, and Near was making a list of people fully qualified to be working for him. She was almost 80.6 percent sure he was going to leave with in the next month to catch Kira by himself.

And then that left her.

She sighed, walking into the playroom. She weaved easily through the mess on the floor, cleared her favorite space at the bay window, and began writing a report on the effects of religion on human thought process. She continued writing, because it came easily, and let her mind drift. She wondered what it would feel like, to be number one at Wammy's, wondered if she would ever see those boys together, alive, ever again.

And she had the oddest feeling she wouldn't.

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AGH. Severe writer's block. Kill me now.

sorry this ones so short, but I dunno what to do next. Ideas Please? Innocent face


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